Derek Jeter smacked a double to right field off National League starter Adam Wainwright in the bottom of the first inning of Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game at Target Field. Jeter then came around to score on a Mike Trout triple in what became a three-run opening frame for the American League.

Wainwright met with reporters after his one-inning outing and admitted that he purposely gave Jeter a hittable pitch in the shortstop’s final Midsummer Classic. Via Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports …

Waino: “I was gonna give him a couple pipe shots. He deserved it. I didn’t know he was gonna hit a double or I might have changed my mind.”

There are a couple of major issues here … 1. It defeats the purpose of grooving a pitch to honor a guy if you then acknowledge publicly that you grooved that pitch. 2. However dumb the rule may be — and it is indeed very dumb — winning the All-Star Game means earning homefield advantage for the World Series that same season, and Wainwright’s Cardinals are a year-by-year mainstay in the National League playoff picture.